Factors causing stress among high school students and tips to deal with them

May 9, 2018,
Gurmeet Kaur

Exams are over for almost all the classes. Now the wait begins for results. After that students would be stressed about the new course or stream to be selected in the next class. Actually, stress is the body’s natural response to challenges. The pressure on teenagers to achieve high levels of academic success is overriding the joys of education and making them anxious and depressed.

When a student experiences high levels of stress, it can adversely affect his/her ability to learn, memorize, and earn good grades. It also results in poor physical, emotional and mental health. So, students and their parents should be aware about factors which may trigger stress. They should also know the preventive and curing measures which must be taken to get rid of this disorder which is affecting a student’s mental and physical functioning.

Symptoms of stress

Stress can be recognised by detecting a number of alterations occurring in a student’s routine activities. Though older students may have the ability to recognize when they are excessively stressed but most of the time, they don’t share this with their parent and ask for any help. On the other side, the younger students generally lack the insight to recognize stress. So, parents should be able to detect the signs of stress and anxiety in their children.

Some stress warning signs among high school students are:

Changes in appetite.

Disinterest in games and outings

Social isolation

Irritability and impatience.

Sleep problems

Unusual and unexplained crying spells

Excessive worry and negative thoughts.

Drop in performance

Headache

Feeling under pressure

Feeling tensed and inability to relax

Feeling mentally drained out

Inability to concentrate or complete the task.

Now we will discuss about different factors leading to stress among students. We will also talk on different aspects of each factor and ways to prevent the same.

1. Examination stress

Exam stress is perhaps the biggest menace for students especially in case of board exams. As the exams draw near, students start worrying about their preparation, incomplete syllabus, exam performance and, fewer marks than the expectations etc. Such thoughts bring stress in students and hence, hampering their preparation for the exams and if the stress goes excessive it may adversely affect a student’s health which can even lead to long term effects. So, timely steps should be taken for the prevention of excessive stress and tension. To get some handy tips that can help to dissipate stress, you may read here.

It happens many times that even after you prepared hard for an exam, still it went bad for you. Actually, leaving an exam feeling defeated is an awful feeling that all students can relate to. This can be really depressing and if not handled sensibly, may even affect your performance in future. All you need to keep in mind is that every person may have a crappy day now or then and it’s not going to be the end of your life. Instead, you need to come over the situation and make yourself stronger and better prepared for this not to happen again. To shift your mind from a bad exam to the success waiting ahead, you should follow some tips and strategies which you can read here.

3. Stress of exam result

Most of the students feel nervous and stressed for the results, however this is normal and a little bit of stress can actually help you to get motivated for dealing with problems and pressure. But too much of stress becomes a matter of concern. Fear of failure causes anxiety among students which has substantial negative effects on their academic and social success. This pressure can come from parents and teachers, usually with the justification that they need good grades to succeed in life. In order to deal with the increased levels of stress you would experience before the announcement of board exam results, read here.

4. Parental/Societal/Peer pressure

These are some significant factors helping to multiply stress among teenagers. Parents indulge their children into high expectations and continuous comparisons with their friends and classmates, which may lead to disastrous consequences regarding the overall health and growth of the child. Similarly, societal and peer pressure may lead to immense stress to the students, disturbing their academics and personal life. It’s important to understand that every child is unique in some way or the other and it is about identifying the traits and developing them with full support. In order to eradicate such factors which add to the stress among our teenagers, you may read here.

5. Stress of bad result

Sometimes, even if you have prepared well for an exam, the results unexpectedly turn out to be bad. This is really depressing for any student and if not dealt sincerely, this may even affect their performance in future. Students need not stress over their bad results and keep in mind that there is always a way to reverse such results. So, if you receive a bad exam result, don’t get depressed but think of the ways to defeat this failure. To get some lucrative tips and get over the stress of bad result, you may read here.

6. Stress over career prospects

It’s the time when students have to start thinking about what kind of career they want to pursue. They also have to plan the career path for which they need to work on the required stream, best colleges, vocational trainings, etc. Though it’s normal for high school students to feel unsure or worried about their future is normal. But sometimes thinking too much about the future concerns can turn into stress which comes with its own side effects so students should try to avoid this. In case they have some confusion about their career prospects, they should approach their parents, elders, teachers or some counselors to get the right solution. To get some career deciding tips suggested by experts, click here.

7. Pressure of tougher Academics

Every year of high school comes with the increased academic demands. Even though, students would have performed excellent in their middle school, they get tensed about the new challenges. Extra classes for the difficult subjects and more periods for practical activities will be introduced in the school timetable due to which they will get little or no time for games or recreational activities. Further on, they might have to go for coaching classes not for the core subjects but also to prepare for the entrance exams which they will have to take after class 12. To tackle all these challenges students will have to make right plan and strategy which they may learn by clicking here.

Always remember, not taking life too seriously can help you live a better and easier life. Just stay positive and optimistic, keep working hard. Everything will come to be in your favour.